The General Session at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) next month (which will feature top executives from the Renewable Fuel Assn., Growth Energy and the American Coalition for Ethanol) should help the industry better understand where the market is heading into 2014, says the president of BBI International....More

Strengthening ethanol prices, reduced feedstock costs, export demand and strong demand for distillers grains have been "helpful in terms of propping up price and putting some strength back in the market.”...More

Bioenergy producer Poet-DSM last week issued a response to a Purdue report stating that removing corn stover from fields can have negative effects on the environment, such as greenhouse gas emissions and erosion. Poet stated that the levels of stover removal instituted in its contracts with corn growers are below the amount found to increase soil erosion or have measurable affects on nitrogen loss....More

Following the bipartisan passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, which included several key biofuel tax extensions, Tom Buis CEO of Growth Energy released the following statement:
“I commend both the Senate and the House of Representatives for recognizing the importance of renewable fuels and acting to extend both the cellulosic producer tax credit and the alternative fuel infrastructure tax credit through 2013.
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DuPont recently broke ground on a new 30-million-gallon cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa. The plant is expected to require 350,000 tons of corn stover annually when it begins operation in 2014. DuPont Pioneer’s Andy Heggenstaller talks about the efforts to develop a steady supply of the feedstock from farmers in a 30-mile radius of Nevada (Neh VAY Duh)....More

E15 cleared the final regulatory conditions imposed by the EPA in 2012, but its path to market has not been smooth sailing. Earlier this year, the Grocery Manufacturers Association filed a lawsuit against EPA, suggesting that the agency overstepped its authority under the Clean Air Act when it granted partial waivers allowing E15 to be used in certain engines. However, on August 17, the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the EPA, confirming its partial waiver approval for E15....More

BP has cancelled its plans to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in the U.S., but has completed construction of its joint venture 110 million gallon per year ethanol plant in Hull, England and is expanding sugarcane ethanol mills in Brazil....More

Construction of one of the country’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants will begin this fall in the heart of Iowa. The new facility, which will be located adjacent to Lincolnway Energy’s existing corn starch ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, will be capable of producing 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year, using technologies developed by DuPont Industrial Biosciences. This will require approximately 350,000 tons of biomass annually, mostly in the form of corn stover....More

The new Enogen hybrids are nearly ready for harvest on Mike Missman’s fields near Woden, Iowa. Missman planted 160 acres of Syngenta’s new hybrids designed for ethanol production. He expects good yields because his area received timely rains.
Although the Enogen hybrids look like any other with insect- and herbicide-resistant traits, Missman will receive a 40-cent/bu. premium for the Enogen crop when it is delivered to an ethanol plant.
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"They lost the first time and we think they’re going to lose again,” said Growth Energy's Frohlich about the American Petroleum Institute's lawsuit against the EPA concerning the cellulosic biofuels quota....More

“From the beginning we’ve said we would pay close attention to the data in determining our contracts with farmers. We’re clearly well within the limits of what the research says is responsible biomass harvesting.”...More